Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-20

the young are corrupted by it, and secret
drinking is done.
But fellow citizens, l oppose this pro-
hibitlon movement on higher grounds
than those affecting my locality or those
suggested by-the impracticabllity of en-
forcing such law. oppose it because
it is g direct assault upon the personal
liberty Of every man to be subjected to its
operation. 1t is an effort to regulate by
law the personal habits Of the people. II
is an abandonment of the theory of our
government, that our people are capable
of self-gOVernment. II our people ere to
be put in leading strings, and q guard
placed over their mouths to see that IN
toXiCants do not enter, they are babies
and unfit for self-gOvernment. If they
are fit for seIf-gOyernment, as IhCld them
to De, and as the theory Of our govern
ment assumes them to be, then 3 law
which prohibits any sane man tWenty-0ne
years of age from eating or drinking that
which &c desires is L direct, palpagle and
outrageous violation of his individual lib
erty. II is 4 precedent if adopted which
will Justify the spOliatiOn OF our people of
every personal right heretofore held
sacred. The same logic when sustains
prohibition will enable the government to
forbid you the use Of tobacco, and if this
move is successful the next crusade will
be sinst tobacco. | know this TO be
already IL contemplation in the minds of
some. By the same process OF reasoning
your apparel may be regulated, and your
diet, and the whole batch of New
England blue laws may be enacted.
Once started on q career Of this sort no
man can tell where it will end. Human
nature is the same now as it was 100
years ago, and "hisu0ry repeats itself"
The right TO bear arms, the bulWark Of
our liberty, may be attacked by the same
method used to carry their point on the
liquor question. Guns and pistols have
slain more people, made more widows
and orphans, produced more rags and
starvation than all other causes COM
bined.
My Prohibition friends are great on
statistics Of this character, and this will
be most inviting field for them. In
short, fellow citizens, you have not a sin
gle personal right which may not be taken
from you just as it is proposed to take
from you the right to drink what you de-
sire. No man should willingly part with
one lot or little of his personal liberty.
TIE personal liberty of Il man should be
like the virtue of a woman, whole and
perfect beautiful 10 its symmetry, it's
harmony and entirety. eternal vigil.
anCe IS the price of liberty" and mas al
ways been. With sentiuels always ON
duty, never sleeping and never firing, 4
there is not people on the globe except
our own whose liberties have not st some
time been taken or stolen, and in years,
though G giant IN strength, our grand and
glorious nationality is yet ia its infancy.
As long as our people retain their pei
sonal liberty they will maintain Tree gov
eTnment.
Free men will always fight the errors,
the 5luuders and the crimes OF those in
authority, and may be relied on when the
government goes wrong TO bring it back
to the right track. If we Will only pre-
serve the personal liberties Of our people
we need have no fear for the perpetuitV
of cur free government. Only free men
can maintain free government. Onlymen
Jealous OF their personal rights and Hber-
ties can remain free, because "eterI al
vigilance is the price Of liberty" No
free people ever yet lost their liberties
except by war or conquest, who were not
despoiled of them by slow and cas-" Stages
through means and and measures
which failed to arouse and alarm
them, until too late for SUCCESS
full resistance. There Is but one
safe course to pursue, and that is, by all
lawful means to resist every attempt,
come from what source 1t may, under
what gui5e it may, ORever Ptsu>iDIe'1
may be the preleXt, to abaUe or CurGau
the personal liberties Of our people one
single hairs breadth.
1t is no crime to manufacture wine,
beer, brandy and other intoX,cants. 1t
has been done ever since the world com
merced The reasonable and discreet
use OF these articles is not 8 crime or vice.
The wisest and hest men to-day and in
all ages of the world, in every country of
the world, use them in some form or
other. 1t is the abuse Of iutoxi-
cants, not their use, which is
vicious or criminal. If one hundred
men who have each the right TO deter
niue for himself what is best for him
personally, find pleasure, comfort, health
and enjoyment in the rational use Of in
toxicants. shall they be deprived of that
liberty because five or ten others get
drunk and make beasts Of themselves?
Shall they be punished for the vice or
crime Of others, when guiltless themselves
of any vice? The PrOhibitionists propose
to do this. The proposition is Il mon
strous one for a free people and free gov
eminent, and has never been and will
never be enforced. l yield TO no man
greater detCstations of tie vices and
crimes of drunkenness Than l have always
felt. l will 60 as far as any other IN favor
of legislation which eau be enforced,
which is practical and will be effective in
reducing the evils Of the liquor traffic to
the lowest possible minimum, bat l will
resist, come from what quarter it may,
in this or any other proposed legislation
the INVASION of one single jOt or little OF
the personal rights and liberties of the peO-
Pile Upon this point will make no COM
promise l believe with Mr.. Bayard that
8 well regulated license system, coupled
with stringent legislation against Illicit
sale, while bringing large revenues to the
state, is the best means yet devised for
the evils Of intemperanCe. If this can be
improved and rendered more effective, |
am ready to cooperate most earnestly
with any effort in that direction. But,
fellow citizens, we eau make no c0nces-
sion TO prohibition. We must defeat that
measure. Our people have not under
stood it, do not appreciate it's
meaning and purposes. 1t is the OF
spring Of fauaticism. Il comes t. Us :
hand in hand with a demand for female
suffrage, and that demand is one OF the
leading planks in The platform Of the Pro
hibition party, adopted in July, 1881, at |.
PTtsburg. Our good, honest, pat
riotic people, who justly de-
test the evils Of intemperance, !
have been induced 10 favor prohibition,
honestly believing it G great moral and !
reform movement, devoid Of political
anG pQrpOSe. and in utter ig- |